diff --git a/gum/fast/Makefile b/gum/fast/Makefile
index 4f872d0..4b9b4f3 100644
--- a/gum/fast/Makefile
+++ b/gum/fast/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
-all: fast.c
+# Use 'cython2' if present on this system; otherwise fall back to 'cython'.
+CYTHON := $(if $(shell command -v cython2 2>/dev/null), cython2, cython)
 
-fast.c: fast.pyx
-	cython2 fast.pyx
+all: fast.so
+
+fast.so: fast.c
 	gcc -shared -pthread -fPIC -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -fno-strict-aliasing \
             -I/usr/include/python2.5 -I/usr/include/python2.6 \
             -I/usr/include/python2.7 \
             -lcairo -o fast.so fast.c
 	if [ ! -e ../fast.so ]; then ln -s fast/fast.so ../; fi
 
+fast.c: fast.pyx
+	$(CYTHON) fast.pyx
+
 clean:
 	rm -f fast.so fast.c
diff --git a/gum/fx/Makefile b/gum/fx/Makefile
index ec974c2..35fdce1 100644
--- a/gum/fx/Makefile
+++ b/gum/fx/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
-all:
-	cython2 _svf.pyx
+# Use 'cython2' if present on this system; otherwise fall back to 'cython'.
+CYTHON := $(if $(shell command -v cython2 2>/dev/null), cython2, cython)
+
+all: _svf.so
+
+_svf.so: _svf.c
 	gcc -shared -pthread -fPIC -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -fno-strict-aliasing \
             -I/usr/include/python2.5 -I/usr/include/python2.6 \
             -I/usr/include/python2.7 \
             -o _svf.so _svf.c
 
+_svf.c: _svf.pyx
+	$(CYTHON) _svf.pyx
+
 clean:
 	rm -f _svf.so _svf.c